Judgment_paragraph 30 · Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of the Netherlands (C-96/89)

30Fifthly, as the Advocate General has rightly pointed out in paragraph 25 of his Opinion, the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations does not prevent the national authorities from refusing to clear into free circulation quantities of manioc exported from Thailand without an export certificate but none the less with an import licence fixing the levy at 6%. As the Court ruled in its judgment of 12 December 1985 in Case 67/84 Sideradria SpAv Commission [1985] ECR 3983, that principle may not be relied upon by an undertaking which has committed a manifest infringement of the rules in force.